Neanderthals might have been more mobile than once believed

WASHINGTON: The analysis of a 40,000-year-old tooth found in southern Greece by a Max Planck Institute team has suggested that Neanderthals were more mobile than once believed.

The tooth was found in a seaside excavation in Greece's southern Peloponnese region in 2002.

According to a report in Discovery News, analysis of the tooth, part of the first and only Neanderthal remains found in Greece has shown that the ancient human had spent at least part of its life away from the area where it died.

"Some experts believe Neanderthals roamed over very limited areas, but others say they must have been more mobile, particularly when hunting," said paleoanthropologist Katerina Harvati from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

"Until now, experts only had indirect evidence, including stone used in tools. Our analysis is the first that brings evidence from a Neanderthal fossil itself," she added.

For the research, the team analyzed tooth enamel for ratios of a strontium isotope, a naturally occurring metal found in food and water. Levels of the metal vary in different areas.

According to Eleni Panagopoulou of the Paleoanthropology-Speleology Department of Southern Greece, the tooth's levels of strontium showed that the Neanderthal grew up at least 12.5 miles from the discovery site.

"Our findings prove that their settlement networks were broader and more organized than we believed," she said.

But, Clive Finlayson, an expert on Neanderthals and director of the Gibraltar Museum, disagreed with the finding's significance.

"I would have been surprised if Neanderthals didn't move at least 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) in their lifetime, or even in a year. We're talking about humans, not trees," he said.